1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shift lever device of an automobile, and in particular, to a shift lever device for shifting an automatic transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among shift lever devices for automobiles, there are those equipped with a shift lever main body formed in the shape of a tube, and a resin outer tube formed at the outer side of the shift lever main body (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6-174060). Long holes for insertion of a detent pin, which passes through in the direction orthogonal to the axis, are formed in the axial direction intermediate portion of the shift lever main body and the resin outer tube. The detent pin passes through a detent rod which is housed at the inner side of the shift lever main body. The detent rod is usually disposed at the top end sides of the long holes by being urged toward the top end side of the shift lever main body by the urging force of an urging member.
In such a shift lever device, due to a button, which is provided at the top end portion of the shift lever main body, being pushed and operated, the detent rod is moved toward the bottom end side of the shift lever main body against the urging force of the urging member, and the detent pin is moved toward the bottom end sides of the long holes. The operation of shifting to a specific shift position thereby becomes possible.
In a shift lever device as described above, because the shift lever main body and the detent pin are both formed of metal materials, when the detent pin moves within the long holes, the metals rub against one another and the operational feeling is poor.
Thus, at the time of molding the resin outer tube at the outer side of the shift lever main body, resin is made to flow to the inner sides of the long holes so as to interpose resin between the detent pin and the inner walls of the long holes. In this way, the metals are prevented from rubbing against one another, and the operational feeling is good.
However, in the case of the above-described structure, the resin which is made to flow to the inner sides of the long holes may project-out at the inner side of the shift lever main body as burrs and interfere with the detent rod. Therefore, precise inspection for checking whether there are or are not burrs and repair work for eliminating burrs are needed.